Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for Lent 2006"Jesus, at the sight of the crowds, was moved with pity" (Mt 9:36)

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Fasting and almsgiving, which, together with prayer, the Church proposes in a special way during the Lenten Season, are suitable means for us to become conformed to this “gaze”.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Lent is a privileged time of interior
pilgrimage towards Him Who is the fount of mercy. It
is a pilgrimage in which He Himself accompanies us through
the desert of our poverty, sustaining us on our way
towards the intense joy of Easter. Even in the “valley
of darkness” of which the Psalmist speaks (Ps 23:4), while
the tempter prompts us to despair or to place a
vain hope in the work of our own hands, God
is there to guard us and sustain us. Yes, even
today the Lord hears the cry of the multitudes longing
for joy, peace, and love. As in every age, they
feel abandoned. Yet, even in the desolation of misery, loneliness,
violence and hunger that indiscriminately afflict children, adults, and the
elderly, God does not allow darkness to prevail. In fact,
in the words of my beloved Predecessor, Pope John Paul
II, there is a “divine limit imposed upon evil”, namely,
mercy (Memory and Identity, pp. 19ff.). It is with these
thoughts in mind that I have chosen as my theme
for this Message the Gospel text: “Jesus, at the sight
of the crowds, was moved with pity” (Mt 9:36).

In
this light, I would like to pause and reflect upon
an issue much debated today: the question of development. Even
now, the compassionate “gaze” of Christ continues to fall upon
individuals and peoples. He watches them, knowing that the divine
“plan” includes their call to salvation. Jesus knows the perils
that put this plan at risk, and He is moved
with pity for the crowds. He chooses to defend them
from the wolves even at the cost of His own
life. The gaze of Jesus embraces individuals and multitudes, and
he brings them all before the Father, offering Himself as
a sacrifice of expiation.

Enlightened by this Paschal truth, the Church
knows that if we are to promote development in its
fulness, our own “gaze” upon mankind has to be measured
against that of Christ. In fact, it is quite impossible
to separate the response to people’s material and social needs
from the fulfilment of the profound desires of their hearts.
This has to be emphasized all the more in today’s
rapidly changing world, in which our responsibility towards the poor
emerges with ever greater clarity and urgency. My venerable Predecessor,
Pope Paul VI, accurately described the scandal of underdevelopment as
an outrage against humanity. In this sense, in the Encyclical
Populorum Progressio, he denounced “the lack of material necessities for
those who are without the minimum essential for life, the
moral deficiencies of those who are mutilated by selfishness” and
“oppressive social structures, whether due to the abuses of ownership
or to the abuses of power, to the exploitation of
workers or to unjust transactions” (ibid., 21). As the antidote
to such evil, Paul VI suggested not only “increased esteem
for the dignity of others, the turning towards the spirit
of poverty, cooperation for the common good, the will and
desire for peace”, but also “the acknowledgement by man of
supreme values, and of God, their source and their finality”
(ibid.). In this vein, the Pope went on to propose
that, finally and above all, there is “faith, a gift
of God accepted by the good will of man, and
unity in the charity of Christ” (ibid.). Thus, the “gaze”
of Christ upon the crowd impels us to affirm the
true content of this “complete humanism” that, according to Paul
VI, consists in the “fully-rounded development of the whole man
and of all men” (ibid., 42). For this reason, the
primary contribution that the Church offers to the development of
mankind and peoples does not consist merely in material means
or technical solutions. Rather, it involves the proclamation of the
truth of Christ, Who educates consciences and teaches the authentic
dignity of the person and of work; it means the
promotion of a culture that truly responds to all the
questions of humanity.

In the face of the terrible challenge of
poverty afflicting so much of the world’s population, indifference and
self-centered isolation stand in stark contrast to the “gaze” of
Christ. Fasting and almsgiving, which, together with prayer, the Church
proposes in a special way during the Lenten Season, are
suitable means for us to become conformed to this “gaze”.
The examples of the saints and the long history of
the Church’s missionary activity provide invaluable indications of the most
effective ways to support development. Even in this era of
global interdependence, it is clear that no economic, social, or
political project can replace that gift of self to another
through which charity is expressed. Those who act according to
the logic of the Gospel live the faith as friendship
with God Incarnate and, like Him, bear the burden of
the material and spiritual needs of their neighbours. They see
it as an inexhaustible mystery, worthy of infinite care and
attention. They know that he who does not give God
gives too little; as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta frequently observed,
the worst poverty is not to know Christ. Therefore, we
must help others to find God in the merciful face
of Christ. Without this perspective, civilization lacks a solid foundation.

Thanks
to men and women obedient to the Holy Spirit, many
forms of charitable work intended to promote development have arisen
in the Church: hospitals, universities, professional formation schools, and small
businesses. Such initiatives demonstrate the genuine humanitarian concern of those
moved by the Gospel message, far in advance of other
forms of social welfare. These charitable activities point out the
way to achieve a globalization that is focused upon the
true good of mankind and, hence, the path towards authentic
peace. Moved like Jesus with compassion for the crowds, the
Church today considers it her duty to ask political leaders
and those with economic and financial power to promote development
based on respect for the dignity of every man and
woman. An important litmus test for the success of their
efforts is religious liberty, understood not simply as the freedom
to proclaim and celebrate Christ, but also the opportunity to
contribute to the building of a world enlivened by charity.
These efforts have to include a recognition of the central
role of authentic religious values in responding to man’s deepest
concerns, and in supplying the ethical motivation for his personal
and social responsibilities. These are the criteria by which Christians
should assess the political programmes of their leaders.

We cannot ignore
the fact that many mistakes have been made in the
course of history by those who claimed to be disciples
of Jesus. Very often, when having to address grave problems,
they have thought that they should first improve this world
and only afterwards turn their minds to the next. The
temptation was to believe that, in the face of urgent
needs, the first imperative was to change external structures. The
consequence, for some, was that Christianity became a kind of
moralism, ‘believing’ was replaced with ‘doing’. Rightly, therefore, my Predecessor,
Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory, observed: “The temptation
today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a
pseudo-science of well-being. In our heavily secularized world, a ‘gradual
secularization of salvation’ has taken place, so that people strive
for the good of man, but man who is truncated…We
know, however, that Jesus came to bring integral salvation” (Redemptoris
Missio, 11).

It is this integral salvation that Lent puts before
us, pointing towards the victory of Christ over every evil
that oppresses us. In turning to the Divine Master, in
being converted to Him, in experiencing His mercy through the
Sacrament of Reconciliation, we will discover a “gaze” that searches
us profoundly and gives new life to the crowds and
to each one of us. It restores trust to those
who do not succumb to scepticism, opening up before them
the perspective of eternal beatitude. Throughout history, even when hate
seems to prevail, the luminous testimony of His love is
never lacking. To Mary, “the living fount of hope” (Dante
Alighieri, Paradiso, XXXIII, 12), we entrust our Lenten journey, so
that she may lead us to her Son. I commend
to her in particular the multitudes who suffer poverty and
cry out for help, support, and understanding. With these sentiments,
I cordially impart to all of you a special Apostolic
Blessing.